Historically accurate, but not absolute. I would say those who came to your country with the sword, were those I referenced as "holding an ideology and masquerading as a religion." People who are devoted to a cause, but who don't read the Bible, and then go violating the teachings of the Bible (like killing people), and saying they are spreading the Gospel, well... I think you see my point. Not so much would I term them "Christians." But my definition is probably tighter than most in the world today... I get your point as well. The Gospel came to the US with a little less "lopping" than it did in parts of Europe.

And things have changed for "most" organized religions since the Viking age. (Give or take a few notable ones who still use the sword method of conversion...eeek!)

What I love about freedom, is the ability to share a belief without worry of being jailed, injured or killed, so long as that belief doesn't cause direct harm to another person. In a lot of other countries, even some progressive ones, you are free to your opinion, as long as it is the official opinion of the state. Glad I don't live there!

And I have to pause now and thank Frank and his brothers who brought me that freedom, and keep it alive and well, day after day.

I thought this might digress into something ugly, but I'm glad we are civilized...And I thank Gen Scarlett for keeping us from forgetting to remain civilized. It is good to have civil and intellectual discussions about deeper matters than Joes with others who share our hobby!

"It is good to have civil and intellectual discussions about deeper matters than Joes with others who share our hobby!"

Well technically its still about Joes, in their way they keep America a place where you can believe what you want, they are after all soldiers

But yeah, falling into an argument about religion is about as productive as holding your hand over your head when its pouring down rain. Everybody has their own thoughts and feelings about it, and especially something loaded as religion which believers of any faith take very personally (which they should!).
Something that I see almost every time is that people forget that irony or sarcasm is harder to read then to hear when someone is talking about something, so discussions such as this tend to fall out because of some "off" comments. (Thus I usually over-use smileys/emoticons etc to show my mood/playfulness).
I am very thankful that people here are pretty aware of such things and go out of their way to keep this a nice place (and its nice for a change to be ruled by somewhat of an iron hand by GS That is a compliment btw, not meant in any negative form, its good to see moderators take responsibility seriously! )

On a side not about the Christening (is that the word?) of Norway. The did do it by sword, but on the other hand they also brought the country together and made it almost what it is today. A few things that still is part of our culture is that you get initiated into the state church if you don't come from a family of a different belief system - which means you get born into it! You can always go out of it, but in the papers it says Christian even though you might not be. Other parts of our culture here is swearing is closely tied to Christianity (I won't mention examples, but its the usual about him up there and the other dude below there, the place below there etc.), and even non-Christians use those just because its such a big part of normal life here. Also its normal to be baptized and "confirmated" (I can't remember the English word here... Someone help me out) even though you might be a non-believer.

Alright enough of my blabbering! Most will probably scroll past this and go look at the pretty pictures instead (I know that is my next thing on my to-do list!)

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Arguing on the internet is like competing in the special Olympics - You may win, but you are still retarded

Way back in November of last year, I was involved in a thread on JBL entitled 'Godless'. It was started by a man who calls himself an atheist (in the most general terms)-initially, I believe, he started the thread to create controversy. But what ended up blooming was 7 pages and one month of some of the most interesting, thought provoking and educated responses from the entire spectrum of 'believers'.......

I'm going to copy and paste my own postings into this thread. You can all read them or pass them by. I will take no offense.

I applaud any person who believes in their personal code, as long as that code does not involve the infliction of pain and/or suffering and/or forcement of said personal beliefs on others........and I thank you all here for letting this thread begin as positively as you have.......I can only hope that it continues. Thank You.










The remainder of this post has been moved. Thank you.

__________________
Non illigitamus carborundum~Vos mos non effrego mihi

Coming soon: 'JoeSpecialOps'

This post has been moved. Thank you.

__________________
Non illigitamus carborundum~Vos mos non effrego mihi

Coming soon: 'JoeSpecialOps'

Your closer than you think.......the word your looking for is 'Confirmed' stemming from 'Confirmation'.......

__________________
Non illigitamus carborundum~Vos mos non effrego mihi

Coming soon: 'JoeSpecialOps'

A good read GS
And a far more eloquent way of saying my own thoughts on the subject matter
Seems someone got it "right"


Oh and thanks! I knew I was close, I just couldn't get it right in my head

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Arguing on the internet is like competing in the special Olympics - You may win, but you are still retarded

Thank you for you kind words.

__________________
Non illigitamus carborundum~Vos mos non effrego mihi

Coming soon: 'JoeSpecialOps'

Personally, I'm not religious. But I have faith. Faith in life. Faith that events occur as they will. Faith that the universe will continue the way it will. I'm a bit more metaphysical than one that subscribes to western religion. And seeing how there are upwards of 5000 levels of Buddhism, I'm not going that route either.

hey, just figured I would put my 2 cents in to this, basicly I have the same opinion of some of the many others on here such as GS and yorktownjoe. I have never heard of this group until Frank mentioned something, so if any one is interested in knowing more I looked them up on wikipedia.org and these are the links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28group%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chanology

oh and frank I wish you and your son the best and I hope its a good experience for the both of you

Nick